


msannomalley Reviews Big Robot Gold Grab/Grand Mini-Robot Operation

by msannomalley



Series: msannomalley Reviews Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman [4]
Category: Battle of the Planets, Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman & Related Fandoms, Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman | Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 13:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3812512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msannomalley/pseuds/msannomalley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thar's gold in them thar...oh nevermind.  Our Heroes try to recover some stolen gold bars that make really cool shiny noises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Big Robot Gold Grab

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in 2002 and updated.

Our reprieve from a Zark opening is short lived, as this episode opens with Zark and more his nattering.  Today, he's going on about how "we", the television audience, think he's lucky that he is stuck in Center Neptune all the time, wearing his "smart G-Force uniform" (he's got his own Birdstyle.  Who authorized this?  And do the taxpayers of Earth know how their money is being spent?!).  And he goes on to mention that we, the television audience, think Zark is lucky because he's surrounded by all the "latest" technology.  7-Zark-7 apparently lives under the delusion that we actually want to be like him and he tells us we shouldn't think like that.  We don't think like that.  At least I don't think like that.  Anyway, he's on this whole appearances are deceiving thing and then goes on about how much worry he has.  Paxil, Zark.  Paxil.  Anyway, this rambling leads to Zark telling us that Spectra is about to rob a bank.

Next we see a bank.  Only it's not a bank, according to Zark.  It looks like a bank, but that's part of its security.  This bank, which is not really a bank, houses all this gold that is the basis of the galaxy's economy.  Next thing we see is a big, drill like mech type thingy popping up through the floor next to the vault.  A door opens up and these little bitty robots come out.  With a 1970's Barry White-esque mellow funk sounding music as the soundtrack, the robots break into the vault and steal the gold.  

Apparently, the Barry White sound is also excellent music to rob banks to.  I only thought it was good for one thing. 

Next we see Mark, at his airstrip, reading a book.  Zark contacts Mark, who replies, "Ears on, Zark.  I read."  (More of that CB lingo from the 70's.)  Zark tells Mark that this is an emergency and he should report to the Phoenix. Mark runs out, gets into his plane, and takes off.  Then we get the whole Transmute! sequence.  Mark docks with the Phoenix, and then we see the others have docked with the Phoenix, but they're just getting out of their vehicles.  We don't get to see them transmute, though.  Bummer. 

Once on the Phoenix, they are briefed on the situation by Chief Anderson (Dr. Nambu in Gatchaman, not the cigar smoking guy, who is named Chief Anderson in Gatchaman.).  He thinks that the break-in was the result of an underwater ramming device mounted on a submarine.  The bank is on an island and was built back far enough from the shore, but erosion has moved the shoreline closer to the bank.  Whose idea was it to build a bank, which is not really a bank, that houses the galaxy's gold, on an island?  And what were they on when they decided this?  Wouldn't it be safer to build this bank, which is not really a bank, somewhere other than an island?  But I digress...

Mark asks the Chief if there are any leads.  Chief says that there were reports of an unidentified sub heading for the islands of the Piya Archipelago and there were reports of Spectran movement since the big heist.  G-Force's assignment:  To find the base and the gold, but more importantly, find the gold.

Princess remarks, "He makes it sound easy, but I bet he doesn't know that the Archipelago has over fifty islands in it."  Jason says that it is easy.  "Just look for recently disturbed trees."  And then Tiny chimes in, "And grass skirts!"  Then he goes on about the last time he was in the South Seas. "There was this native girl," he says.  "Who did a hula underneath the palms in the moonlight.  Just for me.  Wow!  Did she come on!  Man,  _did she come on!_ "

At this precise moment, something crawled up Mark's backside and died.   Commander Cranky Pants tells Tiny to "close his scrapbook and get us headed for Piya."  I suspect that Mark is a little jealous because Tiny got some and Mark didn't. 

Anyhoo...

The Phoenix goes flying along and Princess asks if anyone has seen any recently disturbed trees.  Tiny replies, "Not even a recently disturbed hula skirt."

Note to Zark and Susan:  What Tiny just said is how you do innuendo properly.  It should not gross out your audience and make them cringe.  

Next we get a bunch of shots of islands and water and after that, we're in the jungle.

Mark, Princess, and Keyop, dressed in their civilian clothes are walking around.  Actually, they're doing that exaggerated tip toe through the jungle, which is not unlike the exaggerated tip toe that Shaggy and Company do on the Scooby-Doo show, which is even more funny, considering Casey Kasem, who does Mark's voice on this show, does Shaggy's voice, too.  They go on about how many islands they've covered and all that stuff, implying that they've been at this for awhile.  The Green Guys from Spectra pop up.  They want to know what the three visitors are doing there.  Princess tells them that they're looking for a home in the country.  The Goons round up the three, who don't put up much of a fight, and take them to base.

Meanwhile, back on the Phoenix, Jason is watching a video feed of the other's capture.  (How do they get video feed from a base they haven't found yet?)  He contacts Chief Anderson and tells him that everything is going according to plan.  Chief runs through the plan again to let us, the audience, in on it.  Mark and the others are to stall the Spectrans while Jason and Tiny recover the gold.  Chief asks if everyone is in sync.  Jason replies, "In Sync." which makes me think of that dreadful boy band for a moment.  Then Jason points out to Chief Anderson that the base doesn't look like a temporary installation.  Jason asks if maybe they shouldn't surprise the Spectrans and knock out the base.  Party Pooper Chief Anderson says no. He doesn't want to risk losing the gold or any members of  G-Force.  Jason argues that there is almost no risk if G-Force surprises their enemy.  Chief still says no.  Actually he yells at Jason for this.  Maybe he's a bit ticked off at Jason for running out of missiles in the last episode?

Back at the Spectran Base, Mark, Princess, and Keyop are brought before the base commander, who is Bug Man/Brock from the previous episode.  Only nobody calls him Brock and his voice has changed and he sounds kind of like Mark now.  Bug Man wants to know how the three got to this base.  Mark says that they told him the truth and Princess asks, "You want us to lie?"  So they're going to be ethical and not lie while at the same time they give away their plans? Not a smart, move.  Keyop has no problem bending the truth, because he tells Bug Man that they got here because of their hang glider club.    Bug Man tells Keyop that he should show respect to the Base Commander (Bug Man).  Bug Man orders a Green Guy to use the cameras and see if there are any more "of them" hanging around.  Green Guy does.  One of the cameras finds the Phoenix in its resting place underwater.

Then we cut away to Jason, who is trying to sneak into the base.  A sound catches his attention and he looks up to see a panel of rock moving away and a missile coming out.  He exclaims, "A missile!" and then he turns around and looks out over the water. 

Then we're back inside the base and the three members of G-Force are having trouble hiding their emotions as this missile is fired.  Way to betray your friends, guys.  The missile is fired and it goes into the water.  We don't know if Tiny got away or if anyone contacted Tiny to tell him that a missile was getting fired at it or if Tiny saw the missile coming and got away.  We don't know that because they cut out a part from the original that would have explained this.  An important story element got chopped away, for what?  More Zark?

Anyway...

Bug Man is all sorts of happy now and tells the three that they're not going anywhere.  Then a door opens and the itty bitty robots who stole the gold come out.  Bug Man goes into this spiel about not letting the robot's size fool G-Force.  Then he orders the robots to take the three to the isolation room.

Next thing, we're back underwater.  The Phoenix did get away and it's now cruising along.  Then back to the outside of the base.  Jason is up against the rocks near the entrance, a big wide cave opening.  A Green Guy is patrolling.  Jason waits for the Green Guy to go away, and then sneaks into the base.  And yes, there was stuff edited from this, too.

And then, more Zark.  He rambles on some more about us wanting to be like him, which leads to more rambling about how worried he is about G-Force, particularly Tiny and Jason.  Um, Zark, I think they can take care of themselves.  Zark pleads to someone to please answer him.  I think they're ignoring Zark on purpose.

Next, we see His Purpleness, Zoltar, in the audience chamber with Oh Luminous One (aka The Almighty Butane, aka The Giant Blue Chicken.)  Zoltar tells His Chickeness that the gold is safe on Piya.  The Almighty Blue Chicken says no, it's not safe until its back on Spectra in the Luminous One's private vault.  His Chickeness warns Zoltar that if any of the gold is missing, the responsible officer must activate their "self-destruct button", as per Sandy Frank Rule #1, people don't die on Battle of the Planets.  Those you see meeting their horrible and painful demise are only robots.

Back at the base and the three captives are being led to the isolation room.  They Transmute! and fight the robots.  We actually get to see this because of the above rule pertaining to Painful Demises.  Bug Man and a couple of Green Guys come in and want to know what's going on and asks the three, "Who are you?".  The three announce that they are G-Force.  This is rather odd.  Bug Man is a base commander for Spectra.  Spectra is being stopped by G-Force.  If you have as high a rank as base commander, shouldn't you know who the enemy is?

Then there's a big fight with the Green Guys which we don't really get to see.  The three G-Force members run off.  Then some Green Guys panic and run after G-Force.  These Green Guys are the ones who are guarding the vault with the gold in it.  They run past an entrance way and when they are gone, Jason sneaks by.  He finds the vault.  Then he gets out his cable gun, puts on the drill attachment, drills a big hole in the door, and finds the gold.  The gold, I should mention, is special gold because it makes "shiny noises".  Jason goes over to one of the cases, opens it, and says, "Yeah!  All right you pretty babies!  Daddy's gonna take you home!"  Then he closes the case.

The Phoenix comes into the base and it is floating on the water by a docking area.  Next we see Jason running towards it.  He jumps up and then goes inside.  The nose cone of the Phoenix retracts and out comes Jason in the G-2, his car.  He drives back to the vault to get the real gold and put fake gold in the vaults.

Mark contacts Jason, who tells Mark that he went to Zoltar's bank and made a big withdrawal.  Mark says "Good Man!" and tells the others that it's time to go.  Bug Man has other ideas, and sends out more robots.  The three make quick work of them and do a three person Whirlwind Pyramid. Right before they do that, Mark asks, "Should we give them a taste of the wind?" and Princess replies, "Yeah!"  Now tell me you don't read that or hear that (if you watched this episode) and you thought something along the lines of "Insert Your Fart Joke of Choice Here." They whirl around, making Green Guys and Robots fly around the room.  Then the threesome escapes.  Bug Man yells at the Green Guys to go after them.

Then Zoltar, majority stockholder in MAC Lipstick, chews out the Bug Man.  "At first you didn't recognize them, and now you let them escape!" he says.  So why did Zoltar let this idiot be in charge in the first place?  Was he the son of a friend of an acquaintance or something?  Bug Man says he knows he's stupid.  Oops!  My Bad!  Zoltar tells Bug Man that G-Force is after the gold and that Bug Man had better not lose one ounce.  Um, you're a little late, Zoltar.

Cut to the Phoenix, cruising along in the ocean.  Inside, G-Force are laughing about getting the gold back and what they imagine the reaction will be when Bug Man and Company find out that the gold they now have is all fake.  Keyop remarks that G-Force outsmarted the bad guys, which wasn't too difficult to do, considering the same Underling of the Week from the previous episode had no clue as to who they were.  Then Tiny says that he sees a sub.  It's the same sub that grabbed the gold, so I assume that Bug Man is taking his fake gold back to Zoltar.  Jason thinks to himself, "He wouldn't let me hit the base, but he couldn't object to one enemy submarine."  Yes, Jason wants to fire the missiles.  So Jason heads toward the Big Red Button, but Mark, of course, stops Jason. Mark says, "No, Jason.  If you miss, you'll give away our position."  To which Jason replies, "I won't miss. They won't know about it for weeks. I'll sink it so deep, they'll never find it. Just one shot, Mark."  Mark still says no.  But Jason doesn't care and pushes the button anyway (and I say, "Good on ya!").  And what happens?  Jason misses.  But he hits some rocks and the impact shakes up the sub.  I bet if Mark hadn't stopped Jason the first time, Jason would have hit the sub.  I just bet.  ;-)

Bug Man, in the sub, orders the robot piloting the sub to head for the surface and prepare to depth bomb.  The sub starts heading up, but water pressure is putting stress on these rods or clamps or whatever that is holding the cases of fake gold in place.  The poles snap and the gold comes spilling out, breaking as the bars hit the sub's floor.  Bug Man picks up one of the bars and finds out that they're not real gold.  Then his eyes, which look like cartoon lips, start twitching, making the cartoon lips move.  It's really weird. Anyway, he realizes that G-Force has the gold.  And with impeccable timing, Zoltar appears on the monitor and chews Bug Man a new one.  He reminds Bug Man that Oh Luminous One said that the responsible party who lost the gold would have to initiate their self-destruct.  Zoltar reminds Bug Man that he is the responsible party.  Bug Man tries to pin the blame on one of the robots.  The robot doesn't take too kindly to this.  His eyes light up in what can only be described as a "Hey, wait a minute!" look.  Bug Man says to wait for him to bail out, but the Robot doesn't care and pushes the self-destruct button anyway.

On the Phoenix, everyone watches the sub blow up (even though we don't see it) with shocked looks on their faces, all except for Tiny (who is not drawn very well in this shot) who has this weird grin on his face.  The Phoenix surfaces from the ocean, and Mark gives the order to head for home.  Our heroes fly off into the sunset.  Zark, in a voice over, says that the bank is going to be moved further inland so that nothing like this happens again.

Back to Center Neptune, and Zark asks, "Now do you wish you were like me?"  And I reply with a big, resounding, "NO!"  He babbles on about how hard his job is getting G-Force there and back (you take too much credit for stuff, Zark) and all the worries he has.  Zark needs medication.  Anyway, Zark is going to take a ten second oil break, but he has to shut everything down.  Then, out of his belt, he produces A BIRDRANG!  Oh, dear God, he has a weapon!  Why?  Why defile the birdrang?  Zark tosses it around and it goes around hitting buttons and stuff and it sounds like the Jetson's spaceship when it's traveling.  But Zark's birdrang somehow hits a switch on Zark and the robot disappears, although we can still hear him. He says, "Oops!  Wrong switch!  I wiped myself out. But I can turn myself on again, and it's a nice way to get away from it all."  Congratulations, Zark!  You somehow managed to defile the Birdrang AND gross the audience out at the same time. 

Excuse me while I go give myself a Brain Brillo. [shudders]

* * *

**A Few Thoughts From Ms. Ann:**

This one rates pretty high on the G-2 Visibility Scale.

I do like this episode.  I like pretty much all of them.  Jason probably has some of the best lines in this one.

Tiny's reminiscing about the last time he was in the South Seas was pretty funny, especially when Mark gets all crabby about it.

Two things that bothered me:

First, we had the same Underling of the Week from the previous epsiode.  In this one, he has a new voice, but it's the same guy.  We know it's the same guy and the voice change is fooling nobody.  Even so, if he's such a ranking officer within the Spectran forces, shouldn't he know who G-Force is?  Shouldn't he even know what the Phoenix looks like  **since he was following it around in the Graveyard of the Sea?**

The other thing that bothered me is this business of giving 7-Zark-7 his own weapon.  Why?  And why does it have to be a Birdrang?  Why couldn't it be something that is generally thought of as kind of bad, like Ryu's Green Goo/Booger weapon in Gatchaman II or a rubber band or one of those paper Frisbees/ninja throwing stars they have us make in Lean Training?  And if Ken Washio ever found out that the Walking Metal Trash Can defiled the Birdrang, what would his reaction be?

There is another thing that bothered me, but I won't get into that until I do the Gatchaman Episode Six review.


	2. The Grand Mini-Robot Operation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the translations for this episode came from the Rhino DVD's. I don't speak Japanese. I can now pick out some of the Japanese swear words (and I owe it all to Condor Joe's filthy, f***ing mouth! *grin*), but I don't speak Japanese. Any complaints with poor translation should be directed at Rhino. This episode review was originally written in 2002 before the ADV DVD's were released.

The episode opens with shots of a bank.  It is The International Bank, but the person who made the sign forgot a letter, therefore it reads "Inte national Bank".   I hope the person responsible got a good reprimand.  The narrator tells us that The World Bank controls the world's economy.  But at night, it is quiet and under tight security. Next we see a vault. All is quiet around the vault when suddenly a big drill mech sub thing comes busting through the floor.  A door opens up and out come those tiny robots, who steal the gold, but this time, without the mellow-funky soundtrack.

The Narrator comes back to tell us that Galactor has it's eyes on the World Bank's gold depository.  Galactor has sent out its mini-robots, called Micros (but pronounced "mee-cros", which makes me think of the fictional island of Mypos, home of Balki Bartokomous [played by Bronson Pinchot] from the 80's sitcom "Perfect Strangers".  Just thought I'd mention that.) to steal the gold.

Yes, that above pop culture reference dates me.  Now get off my lawn!

Next, we're at the airstrip of Ken Washio, also known as Gatchaman.  He is reading a book when he is paged by Dr. Nambu.  Nambu informs Ken that the World Bank's gold has been stolen and that he should "gather and launch the God Phoenix" (which sounds much cooler in Japanese).  Ken runs out to his plane, takes off and shouts out "Bird Go!" and transforms.  Bird Go is spoken in English, but it sounds much cooler when the speaker has a Japanese accent.  Then we get the stock footage of everyone docking with the God Phoenix.  Well, we only actually see Ken docking with the God Phoenix, but we see the others getting out of their vehicles.  This brings me to something else.  If Ken gets this cool thing that lowers his chair down from his plane, and Jun and Jinpei get to slide down chutes, why does Joe have to pull himself up a chute to get out of his car?  He ranks the other two, so couldn't he at least have something that pulls him up?  But yet again, I digress...

So now, the Kagaku Ninja Tai is gathered in the God Phoenix.  Nambu comes on the screen for the briefing.  He says that someone stole the gold from the World Bank, intending to cause a panic in the world's economy.  Nambu also points out that the International Science Organization gets its funding from the World Bank.  It's a plot to stop ISO (are they 9002 certified?) from carrying out their plans for world peace. Nambu says he can't think of anyone other than Galactor who could pull this off.  Ken asks if there are any leads. There is one.  A patrol ship detected something headed for the Valerie Sea.  (That's what it said in the subtitles, so if it's wrong, it's not my fault.).  Ken thinks that there might be a Galactor base in the Valerie Sea.  Nambu agrees.  Nambu tells the team that their mission is to investigate every island in the Valerie Sea to see if there are any hidden bases or possibly Galactor Headquarters in that area. They are also to recover the stolen gold.

Jun tells Ken that "this is overwhelming."  Seems there are over fifty islands in the Valerie Sea. Joe replies, "What about it?  We'll just check them one by one."  Then Ryu says, "The Valerie Sea.  I just want to swim in the tropical waters."  He mentions blue water, white sand beaches, and a long nap under a palm tree next to a pretty girl.  Ryu can hardly stand it.  Ken informs Ryu that this is not a vacation.  He just says it in an Authoritative Commander Voice, and not in the same way Mr. Cranky Pants Mark said it to Tiny in  _BoTP._.  He orders Ryu to head full speed towards the Valerie Sea.

Next, we get shots of the ocean, a lagoon, rocks, and palm trees.

Ken, Jun, and Jinpei are tiptoeing through the jungle in their civvies.  Jinpei says that this looks like another desert island and that they should go to the next one.  Ken says, "Don't rush.  Let's take a look around."  Then a bunch of Galactor Goons pop out and surprise the three.  Surrounding them, a goon asks what the three are doing on the island.  Jun replies that they are on vacation, to which the goon replies by shoving a gun in her face. He wants her to confess.  Ken gets angry and pushes the gun away, then does this flying sidekick and knocks the goon down.  We also see that Ken isn't wearing socks.  Then a goon points a gun at Ken.  Ken says that he can't fight a machine gun and he puts his hands up.  The goon tells the other goons to take them to the commander.   Then we see an extreme close-up of Ken and Jun.  Jun winks at Ken, and Ken winks at Jun.  The winking was cut out of BotP.  I'm guessing it was to give Zark more time to defile G-1's weapon. 

Back on the God Phoenix, Joe watches a video feed of Ken, Jun, and Jinpei being taken to the base.  And I wonder again how they got the camera feed from the base into the God Phoenix.  Joe contacts Nambu to tell him that everything is going according to plan.  Nambu says while the other three are distracting the guards, Joe and Ryu should take back the gold and "evacuate swiftly."  Joe then says if Galactor has their headquarters on this island they should seize the opportunity to attack them.  Nambu says no.  (Party pooper.)  Nambu reminds Joe that the KNT's mission is to locate the Galactor headquarters.  Joe wants to know how they can let the enemy slip away.  Nambu says, "I said no."  Then he reminds Joe to be mindful of his mission and act thoughtfully.  Then he says, "Joe, do you understand?"  Then he signs off.

 **Now this next part was edited out of** **Battle** **of the Planets.** Since Joe isn't allowed to attack the enemy and put a stop to this Galactor nonsense once and for all, Joe is not a very happy camper at the moment.  In fact, he looks pretty pissed off.  We get an extreme close-up of the Famous Condor Scowl.  Joe mutters, "Shit!"  Then he slams his fist on the back of Ryu's chair and says, "This is no fun."  Ryu, who was taking a nap, wakes up.  He asks Joe what happened.  Joe tells Ryu to shut up!  Joe looks even more pissed off now, and I can't say I really blame him, either.  When you want revenge on someone and you are denied the chance to get it, wouldn't you be pretty ticked off, too?

Back on the base, Bug Man from the previous episode, asks Ken, Jun, and Jinpei to tell him how they got to this island.  Ken refuses to answer (which is why he is a better G-1 than Mark).  Jun asks Bug Man, "Why don't you guess?"  She's not speaking either.  Jinpei says, "Old Man, we swam over."  In the subtitles it said "old man", but the Japanese word Jinpei said was "ojisan".  And according to  **Ayako** (in her wonderfully hilarious Production Diaries), Jinpei insulted Bug Man by grouping him with "fat, smelly, middle aged Japanese men who spit on the sidewalk, and pick their noses, and pee in public".  (Did I mention that I like this kid?).  Anyway, Bug Man doesn't take too kindly to this.  He says, "How dare you call the Galactor Base Commander a 'fat, smelly, middle aged Japanese [man] who spit[s] on the sidewalk, and pick[s his] nose, and pee[s] in public'?"  Then Ken goes, softly, "A base?"  Bug Man made a big boo-boo and Ken picked up on that right away (which is another reason why Ken is a better G-1 than Mark.).  Bug Man tells a Green Goon to turn on the surveillance cameras because there might be more of them.  Suddenly, all these cameras start popping out of the ground, tree trunks, and rocks.  One of them picks up the God Phoenix under the ocean.  The goon says he sees "something odd" on the screen.  Bug Man says "What?" and Ken says "Damn."  The goon (or Bug Man since the screen only shows the surveillance of the God Phoenix) says he's never seen that before.  I think it was Bug Man after all, because he says it looks like a submarine.  Then he orders the goons to blow it up.  Ken mumbles or wills (since I don't remember seeing his mouth move), "Ryu, get away!"

On the island, Joe is sneaking around looking for the base entrance.  The sound of moving rock gets his attention and he looks up to see a missile popping out of the rock.  Joe says, "A missile!"  Then he looks back out over the water and says "Ryu!"

 **Some of this next part was edited out of** **Battle** **of the Planets.** We see the God Phoenix underwater.  Inside, Ryu is sleeping.  Back on the island, Joe kind of straightens up and goes "oh".  Back to Ryu napping, and then we hear the buzzing of his communicator.  Joe is trying to contact Ryu, who doesn't wake up.

Back on the base (this part was left in) the goon aims a missile, and Ken looks shocked or scared or nervous or whatever. So do Jun and Jinpei.

Back on the island, Joe is still trying to get a hold of Ryu, who is still sleeping.  Ryu's tongue starts hanging out in his sleep. (This was edited out.)

On the base, the goon is still trying to aim the missile.  He gets his target in the crosshairs. (This was left in.)

On the island, Joe, talking into his wrist communicator, says, "Idiot!  Why are you sleeping?  Wake up!"  On the God Phoenix, Ryu stirs and opens his eyes.  Joe is heard telling Ryu that there is a missile aimed at the God Phoenix.  Now Ryu wakes up.  He exclaims, "A missile!"  (This was edited out.)

(This next part was left in.)  Next we see the missile being launched. It heads for the water and goes under.  On the base, Jun winces, Ken looks shocked, and Jinpei looks scared.  Bug Man declares that "they will kill anyone who approaches this island."  He also declares that "you, too, will die."  He orders the robots, named Micros (pronouced "mee-cros" which makes me think of...nevermind.) to come out.  A door opens and we see the itty bitty robots. Ken goes "Micros?  They're mini-robots!"  And I'm like, no duh! Thanks for stating the obvious.  But I still think Ken is a better G-1 than Mark, in spite of this.  Anyway, the robots come out.  Bug Man brags that the mini robots are the creation of the Great Galactor Leader Himself and that their size should not be underestimated or our three heroes will suffer.  He says that the Micros have powerful killer laser beams.  Then Bug Man orders the robots to take the three Science Ninjas to the gas chamber and execute them.  One robot's eyes start blinking and I guess that means he's saying "Yes sir".

Back under the ocean, we see the God Phoenix cruising around for a new hiding place.

Meanwhile, Joe has reached the base's entrance.  A goon is patrolling and Joe sees this when he peeks around the rock.  Joe waits for the right moment and jumps from his hiding place.   **This next part was edited out of BotP.** Joe lands on the ground and the goon looks up, completely taken by surprise.  Joe punches the guard.  The goon's gun falls into the water.  The goon lands on the ground, knocked out cold, and against the wall, we see a sillhouette of an arm extended, a hand curled into a fist, and winged cape.  Then Joe looks around and runs off into the base.

Next, we are in the audience chamber with Berg Katse and Sosai X (the Big Blue Chicken).  Katse informs Sosai that the Grand Mini Robot Operation was a success.  Sosai gives Berg an "Atta Boy!"  Then he gives Katse the orders to have the gold transported to Galactor's Secret Headquarters.  But Sosai warns that if one piece of the gold is lost or if the Science Ninja Team finds out (little late for that, X), Katse has to turn on the self-destruct switch on his own men.

Back at the base, Ken, Jun, and Jinpei are being led to the gas chamber.  One of the robots pokes Jinpei in the back and Jinpei calls him a stupid thing.  Then he asks Ken what they should do.  Ken just says, "Okay, Jun, Jinpei, let's do it."  Jinpei is ready, Jun's okay with it and then Ken brings his arm in front of his face and shouts, "Bird Go!"  They transform into their BirdStyles and fight the robots. Jinpei dodges the lasers, Jun whips her yo-yo bomb around, and Ken throws out his Birdrang.  He catches it in that Very Famous Gatchaman Pose.  Bug Man and the goons come running in.  He wants to know what this is and then he asks, "Who are you?"  Try the same people you lured into the Graveyard of the Sea in the previous episode.  Ken announces that they are the "Kagaku Ninja Tai:  Gatchaman!"  Jun introduces herself as G-3 and Jinpei introduces himself as G-4.  Bug Man orders the goons to shoot at them.  The goons oblige and we get more fighting that was edited out of Battle of the Planets.  Ken literally knocks the spit out of a couple guys.   Bug Man tells the goons who are still standing to keep firing and not to let Our Heroes escape.  Too late, as the three are running out of the room.  The goons run after them.

Around the base, alarms are sounding.  A bunch of goons run off to help out the ones that are chasing Ken, Jun, and Jinpei.  They run past an entrance and when they pass by, we see Joe running past the entrance.  There is only one goon left guarding the vault to the gold.  Around the corner from said goon, Joe peeks out.  He reaches for his cable gun, puts on a crescent shaped attachment and shoots.  It knocks out the goon and causes him to fall against a door switch.  The goon's clumsiness opens the outer door of the vault.  Joe walks through that door, up a ramp, and up to the second door.  Then he puts a drill attachment on his cable gun and drills his way into the vault.

While Joe is drilling his way into the vault, Ken and the other two are in another room fighting goons.  Again, Ken literally knocks the saliva out of a few of them.

Back at the vault, Joe has gotten inside and finds the gold.  It's the same special gold that was in BoTP because it makes "shiny noises".  Unlike Jason, Joe doesn't refer to the gold as "pretty babies", nor does he say that "daddy's gonna take them home."  That is a very un-Joe like thing to say.  But it is a very Jason-like thing for Jason to say.  Funny how they're the same characters, but yet they are different.

The God Phoenix reaches the base and docks inside.  Joe comes running from the vaults.  He gets into the God Phoenix, then the next thing we see is the nose cone retracting and Joe's car, the G-2, being lowered.  Joe drives off to the vaults to get the real gold and to leave some fake gold for Galactor.  While Joe is busy doing this, the Narrator chimes in to remind us that while Ken, Jun, and Jinpei are fighting the goons, Joe and Ryu are taking back the gold because that is their mission, given to them by Dr. Nambu.  We already know this, but I suppose the Narrator was thinking of those unlucky souls who tuned in late.

While Joe is recovering the gold, the other three are still fighting goons.  Jun gets grazed in the foot, or near her foot and falls.  Ken backs up in a protective way and asks her if she's okay.  She says yes.  There is more fighting.  While Ken has a goon in a headlock, Joe calls him to say he's got the gold.  Ken tells the other two that the plan was carried out and it's time to go.  Bug Man has other ideas.  He calls out the 'bots. As the 'bots close in on the three, Ken says, "Okay, let's try the Tornado Fighter."  Just plain and to the point, unlike his American counterpart who made a remark that could have easily been turned into a fart joke.  Jun agrees about the Tornado Fighter, so they do a three person Tornado Fighter.  Goons and 'bots are blown around and the three make their escape.

Berg Katse pops up on a monitor to chew out Bug Man.  Bug Man says he's very sorry.  Katse tells Bug Man to bring the gold back to headquarters.  He reminds Bug Man that "you are not allowed to fail."  That remark sounds like the suits where I work, because we have a 4,000 piece kit to build and they want us to do it quickly, but we are not to make one mistake that would cause us to have to send a board to rework.  (I work in electronics.)  But as we work with this stuff and with the equipment on a daily basis, and they don't know their butts from holes in the ground, we know that somewhere along the line, something is going to get messed up because it always does.  But I digress...

The team is now back on the God Phoenix and the ship is cruising along under the ocean.  The gold is safely aboard and the KNT are laughing.  Joe wishes he could have seen them (Galactor) panic.  Jun said that their mission was unexpectedly easy.  Jinpei says that it's all about how good they are "up here" and he points to his head.  Ryu sees Bug Man's escape sub and informs the team of that.  As Joe watches the sub, he thinks, "Damn Galactor.  I'll give them a farewell gift."  He heads for the Big Red Button.  Ken asks Joe what he's doing and reminds Joe that they aren't supposed to use the Bird Missiles without Dr. Nambu's authorization.  Joe says, "I know that.  I've heard it so many times."  Then he asks Ken to let him do it just this once.  Ken is all, "Joe!" and then Joe pushes the Big Red Button anyway.  Ken looks surprised and says, "You did it."  The missile launches and misses the sub (thanks to Ken's little interruption).  But it hits some rocks and the falling rocks make the sub rattle.

On the sub, Bug Man says the KNT are coming after the gold and he tells his robot friend to take the sub to the surface and escape.  The 'bot does so, and then Bug Man tells him to go faster because if Bug Man loses the gold, he'll be executed.  The pressure from going up causes the clamps holding the cases of gold to break and gold goes spilling all over the place, breaking as it hits the floor.  Bug Man picks up one of the gold bars and discovers that it's fake.  And if his timing couldn't be better, Berg Katse appears on the monitor.  He tells Bug Man, in so many words, that he's a loser and a failure and sentences him to death.  Katse orders the 'bot to activate the self-destruct.  Bug Man begs for forgiveness, but the 'bot does the deed.  The sub explodes.  Back on the God Phoenix, everyone witnesses this and gasps, except for Ryu, who is not drawn very well in this shot and who is grinning rather weirdly.  The God Phoenix heads for the surface.  Once in the air, they see the island that held the Galactor Base blow up.  Ken says, "Our mission is complete.  Let's go home."  And then the God Phoenix flies off into the sunset, accompanied by the Columbia Cradle Club singers doing a reprise of the "Shupa, shupa, shupa, shupa" song.

* * *

**A Few Thoughts from Ms. Ann:**

 

This one rates quite high on the G-2 visibility scale.

I liked this version of this particular episode as well as the BotP version. In that review I mentioned a couple of things that bothered me that also apply to this version, namely Bug Man's complete ignorance at who the enemy is.

Another thing that bothered me about this, something I alluded to in the BotP Six review, is the bits that were cut from the sequence where Joe contacts Ryu to tell him that a missile is aimed at their ship.  That could have been left in the American version.  If it was the fact that Joe called Ryu an idiot, they could have rewritten it.  They kept in the shots of the missile being launched, so why not that?  I suppose it was edited to make room for Zark and his anxiety disorder.

I also think they could have left in the bit where Joe gets pissed off because they can't attack the base.  I suppose that bit was cut out because it wouldn't have been good to have Jason get angry about being told no.   We all know that we're Not Supposed To Question Authority, but Jason always does, so why cut that bit out?  But I still think they could have left that bit in, maybe without the "shut up" part.

Another thing that bothers me, and it's more of a general thing than particularly with this episode, is Nambu's thing about only following the enemy and not attacking them or fighting them.  You have a group of people who don't bat an eye at killing innocent civilians and destroying things with their mechas or even sending a ten year old boy (Jinpei) to the gas chamber to be executed, but the good guys are not allowed to attack them or even take them by surprise.  They always come in after Galactor has done something and end up fighting because the conventional military is no match for them.  I can understand Nambu telling the team to "be mindful", but I wish Nambu would pull out the two by four or whatever it is he has jammed up his butt and maybe not wait for Galactor to trash entire cities before acting.

This episode also shows how two characters are the same, yet different at the same time.  I'm talking about Joe and Jason.  Unlike the situation between the two G-1's, I like both G-2's.  Both are supposed to be the "bad boy", but Jason comes across as cockier than Joe.  Joe is much darker than Jason.  Although both of them seem to be a "let's cut to the chase and get this over with" kind of people.  Jason also seems happier than Joe does.


End file.
